One-third (34%) of small-town schools fell behind their benchmark by at least five percentage points and just a tenth (11%) outperformed their benchmark by at least five percentage points.

Stephen Kerr MSP, Scottish Conservative shadow cabinet secretary for education, said: “It is deeply concerning to see that small town schools seem to be underperforming compared to their urban counterparts.

“This is a sad symptom of the SNP’s shambolic mismanagement of Scotland’s school system – which makes a mockery of Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that education was her government’s ‘number one’ priority – and all too typical of their habitual neglect of rural communities. This simply isn’t good enough.”